Six people have been killed and more than 100 remain missing after a passenger ferry capsized in bad weather in Indonesia's Java Sea on Sunday, September 13, 2026.
The vessel, identified as the Virgo Transport 8, was traveling from Surabaya in East Java to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan province, on Borneo Island, when it overturned in rough seas in the early hours of the morning.
The ship's manifest listed 243 people on board — 213 passengers and 30 crew members — along with 89 vehicles. Authorities noted it is common in Indonesia for the actual number of passengers to differ from the manifest.
The captain had reported rough seas with waves reaching up to 3 meters (10 feet) before issuing a distress call, stating the ship was listing, according to I Putu Sudayana, head of the Banjarmasin Search and Rescue Office. Authorities later received information indicating the vessel had overturned.
Contact with the Virgo Transport 8 was lost at around 2 a.m. Sunday. The rescue agency in Banjarmasin said it received a report of the incident two hours after contact was lost. The vessel's last known position was approximately 148 kilometers (92 miles) from Banjarmasin.
By Sunday afternoon, rescue teams had recovered six bodies and saved between 103 and 108 people, according to figures reported by different sources. Search operations were expanded around the vessel's last known position, with authorities deploying a dozen vessels, including four navy ships, and two helicopters.
Transportation Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said aerial searches confirmed the ferry was floating upside down and had not sunk. Rescuers concentrated their efforts around the overturned hull.
Videos released by the National Search and Rescue Agency showed the ferry floating inverted in choppy waters during a helicopter search operation. Separate footage showed exhausted survivors disembarking from a rescue ship at a port in Banjarmasin, while injured victims were carried on stretchers and transported by ambulance to nearby hospitals.
The 119-meter (390-foot) Virgo Transport 8 was built in Japan in 1987 and operated there until last year, before being sold to its current Indonesian operator, PT Virgo Karya Shipping.
Hundreds of relatives gathered at a command center at Banjarmasin's Trisakti port, anxiously checking passenger manifests and rescue lists for news of family members believed to be aboard.
"I was shocked when I saw my uncle's name on the passenger list," said a woman identified only as Bunga. "But I felt relieved after officials told me he had been rescued."
Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands where ferries are a primary mode of transport. Maritime disasters occur regularly, with weak safety enforcement frequently cited as a contributing factor.
